The team project presentation analyzes college students' usage of LinkedIn. The core issues are that many students do not create a LinkedIn account until after graduation and are unaware of how to use it fully. LinkedIn can help students' careers by allowing recruiters to research them and many employers hire through it. However, only about half of students use it and usage is low. Students may feel intimidated by a lack of experience or have trouble translating skills. The presentation recommends that LinkedIn provide more accessible training and target students to increase usage. Research objectives are to understand students' social media use, how they seek professional development information, and how LinkedIn can improve usage. Key findings include students prioritizing smartphones for social media

1. TEAM PROJECT
PRESENTATION:
ARE COLLEGE
STUDENTS’ LINKEDIN?
TEAM MEMBERS: JEFF GUNTER, SETH BROWN, CHRIS
DIETZ, JEREMY O'CONNOR

2. CORE ISSUES
• Research has shown that the majority of
college students don’t create a LinkedIn
account or they have one but don’t utilize it
until after they graduate.
• There are also many students that are unaware of
how to take full advantage of everything LinkedIn
has to offer.
• Many recent graduates find themselves
working jobs they are over-qualified for.

3. IMPORTANCE TO COLLEGE
STUDENTS
• LinkedIn can be an incredibly useful tool in
advancing your career
• 94% of recruiters research a potential candidate’s
social media presence
• 78% of employers have hired candidates through
LinkedIn
• You can customize your LinkedIn feed to provide
updates and articles to help you stay on the cutting
edge of your field

4. SYMPTOMS
• Only about half of college students have ever
used LinkedIn.
• LinkedIn has low repeat usage, 61% of users
view the site once every three weeks or less
often.
• Since only about 50% of college students use
LinkedIn there are competitors starting to
target the millennial market.

5. PROBABLE PROBLEMS
• College students are intimidated by their lack of
professional experience.
• College students have difficulty translating their
skills into professional bullet points
• College students are unaware of the value in
creating a LinkedIn account
• LinkedIn training is available, but lack of guidance
causes new users to put off learning how to utilize
the professional development networking site

6. DECISION STATEMENT
• How can LinkedIn increase its usage rate
among college students?
• Provide more easy to find training tools.
• Target college students with specific information
pertaining to their developmental situation.

7. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
• Research Objective 1
• The first research objective was to understand how college
students access social media in their everyday environment
• Research Objective 2
• The second research objective was to understand how college
students search for information pertaining to professional
development
• Research Objective 3
• The third research objective was to identify how LinkedIn can
improve usage among college students

8. SUMMARY OF RESPONDENT'S
DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMATION
• The age range of our 39 respondents was from
19 to 38, with an average of 24.
• 86% of the respondents were of the millennial
generation
• Our respondents consisted of an almost equal
representation of gender
• 20 Males (51%) and 19 Females (49%)
• We also had a near equal amount of juniors
and seniors
• 56% were juniors and 44% were seniors

9. DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMATION
34%
41%
10%
0% 0%
2% 2%
10%
Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female
Ages 19-23 (75%) Ages 24-28 (10%) Ages 29-33 (2%) Ages 34-38 (12%)
Respondents Gender and Age
(Percentages are of total respondents)
28% 28%
56%
21%
23%
44%
Gender Male Female Male &
Female
Male Female Male &
Female
Academic
Year
Junior Senior
Academic Year of Respondents
(Percentages are of junior & senior
respondents)

10. IMPORTANT FINDINGS FROM
OUR LITERATURE SEARCH
• The Education Advisory Board
• 94% of recruiters research a potential candidate's
social media presence
• 43% of employers passed on hiring a potential
candidate due to negative information on their social
media accounts
• 78% of employers have hired candidates through
LinkedIn
• 41% of college students use LinkedIn’s professional
services

11. IMPORTANT FINDINGS FROM
OUR LITERATURE SEARCH
• The Pew Research Center
• Facebook still remains the top social media site in
regards to usage with a 71% usage rate
• LinkedIn has a 50% usage rate by internet users with
a college degree
• Only 28% of all adult internet users have a LinkedIn
account
• LinkedIn is the only social media site that has more
30-64 year old users than users in the age range of
18-29

12. IMPORTANT FINDINGS FROM
OUR LITERATURE SEARCH
• The Associated Press (AP)
• 54% of American bachelor’s degree holders, aged 25
and under, are unemployed or underemployed.
• The amount of college graduates with a bachelor’s
degree has grown by 38% since 2000.
• AP reports that students should actually be more
focused on the skills they attain while in school, and
less focused on the actual diploma.

13. IMPORTANT FINDINGS FROM
OUR TEAM’S SURVEY
• According to our team’s survey college
students have an interesting take on
importance of professional development.
• 50% of respondents believe that professional
development is either extremely important or very
important to college students in general.
• However, 88% of respondents indicated that
professional development is either extremely
important or very important to themselves,
personally.

14. IMPORTANT FINDINGS FROM
OUR TEAM’S SURVEY
2%
10%
44%
44%
8%
42%
32%
18%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%
Not Very Important
Somewhat Important
Very Important
Extrememly Important
College Students' Perception of Professional
Development Importance (n=39)
Professional Development Importance (College Students Overall)
Professional Development Importance (Personal)

15. IMPORTANT FINDINGS FROM
OUR TEAM’S SURVEY
• One of the things our team wanted to find out
through our survey is what devices do college
students prefer to access social media on.
• 15% of respondents indicated that they used a
desktop computer.
• 18% of respondents indicated that they used a
tablet.
• 48% of respondents indicated that they used a
laptop.
• 95% of respondents indicated that they used a
smartphone.

16. IMPORTANT FINDINGS FROM
OUR TEAM’S SURVEY
15%
49%
95%
18%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Desktop Laptop Smartphone Tablet
Preferred Device Used to Access Social Media
(n=38)

17. IMPORTANT FINDINGS FROM
OUR TEAM’S SURVEY
• Our team was interested in finding what
professional development topics college
students are most interested in and how often
they search for them.
• According to our team’s survey students are most
interested in finding entry level positions and
internships.
• 64% of respondents indicated that they were
interested in finding entry level positions
• 66% of respondents indicated that they were
interested in finding internships
• 77% of respondents indicated that they searched for

18. IMPORTANT FINDINGS FROM
OUR TEAM’S SURVEY
23%
39%
28%
10%
66%
64%
47%
29%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%
Less than once a month
At least once a month
At least once a week
More than once a week
Internships
Entry Level Positions
Resume Writing
Student Co-Op
Freqof
Search
Topicsof
Interest
PD Topics of Interest and Freq of Search
(n=39)

19. IMPORTANT FINDINGS FROM
OUR TEAM’S SURVEY
• Our team was interested in finding out how
many of our respondents had a LinkedIn
account established and how difficult they
thought it was to use.
• 72% of respondents indicated that they already had a
LinkedIn account established.
• 48% of respondents indicated that they found
LinkedIn to be very easy or easy to use.
• Only 13% of respondents found LinkedIn difficult to
use

20. IMPORTANT FINDINGS FROM
OUR TEAM’S SURVEY
72%
29%
19%
39%
13%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%
Very Easy
Easy
Neutral
Difficult
Est.
LinkedI
nLinkedInDifficulty
Ease of Use (n=31)
and LinkedIn Account Establishment (n=39)

21. FINDINGS FOR RESEARCH
OBJECTIVE 1
• Ranking of social media popularity
• Our survey findings are similar to what we
discovered in our literature review.
• According the Pew Research Center, Facebook is the
most popular (87%), followed by Instagram (53%),
Twitter (53%), Pinterest (34%), and LinkedIn (23%).
• Our respondents’ social media use ranks in the same
order.

22. FINDINGS FOR RESEARCH
OBJECTIVE 1
• Most Used Device to Access Social Media
• 95% of respondents indicated smartphones were
their most preferred device for accessing social
media.
• The Wall Street Journal analyzed the user friendly
nature between the LinkedIn website and their mobile
application in a recent article.
• They determined that the mobile application was easier
to use.
• It appears that LinkedIn may be aware of the
frequent use of smartphones to access social media.

23. FINDINGS FOR RESEARCH
OBJECTIVE 2
• Perception of Professional Development
• Of our respondents, 88% indicated that they view
professional development as being either extremely
important or very important to them personally.
• Surprisingly, our respondents did not believe that
college students, in general, think that professional
development is important.
• Of our respondents, only 50% selected extremely
important or very important for college students in
general.

24. FINDINGS FOR RESEARCH
OBJECTIVE 2
• Topics of Interest and Information Sources
• Our respondents indicated that internships (66%)
and entry-level positions (64%) were the most
searched professional development topics.
• The large majority of our respondents (82%)
indicated that they utilize the internet as their
number one source for locating information on
professional development.

25. FINDINGS FOR RESEARCH
OBJECTIVE 3
• Establishment of LinkedIn Account and Repeat
Usage
• Overall, we were impressed that 72% of our
respondents had already established a LinkedIn
account.
• This finding was well above the Pew Research Center’s
estimate of 23%.
• We found from our survey that 39% of respondents
indicated that they used LinkedIn less than once a
month and 36% of respondents said they used it
once a week.

26. FINDINGS FOR RESEARCH
OBJECTIVE 3
• Ease of Use and Interest in LinkedIn Training
• Of our respondents, 48% indicated that they found
LinkedIn to be very easy, or easy to use.
• An overwhelming 92% of respondents said they were
unaware of the weekly LinkedIn training at the
Career Development Center.
• Of those same respondents 46% said they would
consider attending a training session.

27. FINDINGS FOR RESEARCH
OBJECTIVE 3
• Interest in Receiving Professional Development
Newsletters
• A large portion of respondents, 49%, said they would
be somewhat interested in receiving a newsletter
containing information on professional development
• Of the respondents, 15% indicated that they would be
extremely interested or very interested.
• Only 8% said they were not at all interested.

28. RECOMMENDATIONS
• Continue to Develop a Market for Millennials
• LinkedIn recently released their first-ever TV
commercial during the Oscars.
• This was undoubtedly a step toward marketing to the
millennial generation.
• Most college students are already aware of LinkedIn,
but unaware of how to use it to its full potential.
• They need to focus on presenting the benefits of
professional networking.

29. RECOMMENDATIONS
• Develop Better Training Instruction
• We think LinkedIn would benefit from developing
better training or partnerships with university career
development centers.
• Possibly include LinkedIn training in classes.
• LinkedIn needs to do a better job of encouraging
students to start utilizing their professional network
long before they graduate from college.

30. IMPORTANT LESSONS LEARNED
FROM THIS GROUP PROJECT OR
THINGS WE WOULD HAVE DONE
DIFFERENTLY
• Marketing research is a very time consuming
and in-depth process but it produces very
useful information.
• Effective communication among team
members is essential for things to run
smoothly when working in a group.
• Surveys can provide a lot of useful information
when conducted well.
• SPSS is an incredibly useful tool for analyzing

31. QUESTIONS?